Growing Up Gifted

Along with the prospect of imminent GCSEs, the three gifted boys must make decisions about their futures. Kian dreams of becoming a theoretical physicist but has to face up to the reality of having to leave Hartlepool to pursue his dreams. In Newcastle, aspiring doctor Liam has grown used to being told he will do well, but his work ethic is increasingly under scrutiny and he has to work out what he really wants. Meanwhile, with knife crime on the rise in his part of London, Jamarley faces pressures outside school, as well as the distractions of making music when there is studying to get on with.

As the GCSE exams approach, the pressure of expectation looms large for the three Gifted girls. In Port Talbot, Anne Marie is more settled after moving in with her best friend, but isolation from her family and nerves about her exams are starting to trouble her. Would-be paediatricianJada has her heart set on taking her A-levels at grammar school, but she needs high grades to get in, and at home in Handsworth, her family’s cramped living conditions are still far from ideal. After her teenage rebellion and school exclusion last year, Tamworth-based Shakira has got to make up lost ground if she is to achieve the high grades in creative subjects that her teachers have predicted.